We Have Failed the Moose Population
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 @ 3:45 AM
It is hard to argue with a former Provincial Biologist and world renowned authority on Moose, who says it’s a combination of factors that has caused the decline in the moose population in this region.
Ken Child lists five items that he feels have caused the demise of the moose population regretfullymost are man made.
We have been able to overcome the problem of accessing the wild areas of the province to a point that rarely, if ever, is there an area in which you can say that man has not been or cannot reach.
We have been able to build electronic devices that enable us to watch the movement of game without even being on the scene.
Above all we have, inch by inch, been able to destroy the environment which the ungulates need to survive.
Child lists amongst his concerns the practice of spraying the brush to enable the pine and spruce trees to grow more rapidly. The problems of clear cut and of course the mountain pine beetle and the destruction of forest that formerly was the home ground for the population of Moose, Elk and Deer.
And finally, to add yet another nail to the coffin, back when it was important to act we failed to keep under control the wolf population to a point where it has exploded all across BC , Alberta and Saskatchewan.
If the intent was to ensure that long into the future we could sustain a healthy population of moose in this part of the province, we haven’t done a very good job.
I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.
Comments
One factor that hasn’t been mentioned is deaths due to trains. From time to time there are efforts to reduce the kill. How is that going?
Very good question. Some winters there are so many moose carcasses along the tracks it’s overwhelming. Seems a viable solution is hard to come up with.
Been hunting pg area for 40 years and saw the moose numbers started to drop shortly after controlled logging slash burns was stopped. The moose vegitation was abundant a few years after a burn. Now a lot of the spraying has eliminated there feed as well.
Wolves first nation & metis hunting most of the winter when the snow is realy deep has to stop.
Is Mr Child afraid to point a finger at the train Kills?
Cheers
Train kills used to be reported in the paper once a year or so when I first came to town in the 1970’s, especially when there were record snowfalls and the moose had little room to escape if they were caught on the tracks.
One would think that if there were more kills now than there were then, that someone would have reported on it by now.
But, then again, one really should not think …. especially since newspaper reporting has diminished more quickly than the moose…….. or is it meeses … LOL
Maybe the individuals who believe in evolution can explain why moose, after all these years are not “evolving” to insure their ongoing existence. Ya, right. Evolution takes a long time. So hey say. Hope the moose get right on this before they disappear completely.
Yes, lets not go the way of the Fisheries with their cod fiasco until there are no more moose.
Where is the Government on these issues??
We have three MLA’s in this area who wouldnt know a Moose from a camel. We need these high paid Government MLA’s to get more involved in local issues, and forget about all the (BS) issues they are presently promoting to get re-elected.
We should stop the bloody spraying, not only because of the moose, but for all wild life, and for the safety of people who pick berries, etc;. Once planting is done, let the forest reproduce on its own. Its not like we will ever have a tree that we can log for 80 years no matter what the hell they do. But at least we can get the hell out of the bush once we have logged it and leave whats left to the wildlife.
As for the **kill** by the railroads. I will gaurantee you that there is less time and money spent by the railways to clear runways for moose along railway tracks now, than there was before CN Rail was privitized.
CN Rail is now for all intents and purposes owned by the Americans. Although they show their head office to be in Montreal, the fact of the matter is this Railway is run out of Chicago Illinois., and has been for the past 10 or more years.
Seems to me that there is a hell of a lot less money being spent by the railways on maintenance, which would include clearing spaces for moose,. etc; If we would check the records Im sure that we would see a significant increase in moose kill, since CN Rail went private.
Again I ask the question. Where are our local MLA’s and our MP’s when it comes to these sort of problems. Fact of the matter is they are conspicuous by their absence.
Bell, Bond, Rustad, (Provincially) and Zimmer, Harris (Federally) should be looking at these types of problems with a view to solving some problems. This high paid help is useless if it cant accomplish anything more than to generate propaganda.
Lets get some bang for our buck from these politicians.
One answer CALF SEASON!!! Problem solved!
One answer moose season! Stop hunting and moose population will go back up. I doubt they will stop the trains.
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